Dissecting the latest Batman: Arkham Knight Premium Edition

It’s been 4 years after Rock-Steady’s last attempt at a Batmangame and the 4th in the franchise after Arkham City. Of course, if you remember, ArkhamOrigins was made by a different studio. As such, a lot of people tend to not include that in the official franchise despite being such a successful game. If you too are a diehard fan of the franchise and feel the same way, then you will feel that itch being satisfied with the latest edition of the franchise – Batman: Arkham Knight Premium Edition.

The very first Arkham game which was ArkhamAsylum set the standard for what this franchise would be in the future: an epic adventure into Comic Books’ most beloved hero of all time. And as such, a lot of expectation went into this game. Warner Brothers also teased everyone about the inclusion of new and long awaited features like the Bat mobile, something every fan wants to get a taste of. So how well does it all fare?

Batman: Arkham Knight Premium Edition review

To understand what this game is supposed to be like and how good it is, you need first to understand what the previous games were like and what made them, so fun to play. After all, this is the best superherogamefranchise there has ever existed. It can all be molten down into one simple fact: Immersion – the game makes the players feels like Batman and gets them immersed in the atmosphere of Gotham City.

Whether it is swooping in and around the city at night gliding around with your bat suit or beating up thugs in the streets or fighting with the biggest crime lords that Gotham City has to offer, everything feels immersive, and that is why people love this franchise to the core. Not to mention Batman is one of the most beloved superhero characters of all time, standing side by side to the likes of Superman, Spiderman, CaptainAmerica and so on.

So what does this game do to fulfill all of the above-made promises and deliver more? Here is everything you will need to know.

Before Beginning

Before getting into the nitty-gritty details of How to playBatman: Arkham Knight Premium Edition and how the game has turned out to be, the first thing that needs to be cleared up is the performance issue that the game had onPC. If you aren’t aware, the PClaunch for this game was nothing short of a disaster.

Several issues plagued the title which includes things like:

The game crashing on launch

The game crashing midway during gameplay

Texture pop ins

Terrible to Unplayable frame rates

Graphical glitches

Things were so bad; they had to take the game off. It was only after a month or two of the actual release date that the game was decently playable enough on PC. All of this was after a huge number of patches had been released. So the first thing you should know about this game is to get it on the console: PS4 or XBOX-ONE.

As such, this review will only take into account all of the gameplay details from the console version without letting the performance issues on PC take a toll on the final rating. If it were taken into account, the final verdict would probably be a 4/10. However, that would not be a reasonable justification of how good the game is.

But that being said, it is high time that developers realized that a game should be perfectly playable on launch. After all, a huge number of people pay the full price of $60 for it. Some even get the premium edition which costs a few dollars more. So why should this bad practice continue?

The Graphics

The biggest strength of this game is without question the graphics. After all, it is the first Batman game to come out on the Next Gen consoles. As such, the developers did a fantastic job in making the player feel they are in Gotham City. As far as looks are considered, it is by far the most authentic Batman experience you will ever have in a video game.

The textures are brilliant and all in highdefinition. Every single detail from Batman’s cloak getting all twisted and soaked up in the rain to water trickling down the street lamps seems like it was taken out straight from a movie. The lighting effects are gorgeous, and the facial animations of the characters are spot on as well. All in all, there is nothing more one can ask from a graphics standpoint for this game.

The Story

The story for Batman: Arkham Knight – Premium Edition – Home Video Game takes place a few years down the line after the events taking place in Arkham City. In this game, the Scarecrow has returned and takes up the limelight as one of the 2 major villains in the game. At the very beginning, the players get a first person view of a cop entering a restaurant which is eventually attacked by Scarecrow with his poisonous toxins.

As a result, the entire city gets evacuated (yet again) and we get another excuse to play in a pretty much barren Gotham City once more. Although this is kind of a letdown for fans since a lot of people wanted to play in a city packed with civilians, it does not take away from the overall experience. The 2nd big villain reveals in the game happens to be the new dog in town: The Arkham Knight.

However, despite 2 major presences in the game, it does not entirely live up to all of the expectations that people had from this game. The scarecrow does not feel as threatening as he should be and the identity reveal of the ArkhamKnight is not as exciting as it should have been. In the end, it is JasonTodd who is the ArkhamKnight. Anyone who knows anything about Batman lore should have seen this coming from a long mile away.

Overall, the story packs a decent punch and is interesting enough to finish through until the end. The one thing that keeps this all together is the smart inclusion of Joker in the game as a psychological barrier to overcome by the Batman. By the 3rd game in the trilogy, fans feel a bit washed up by a similar “Let’s Kill The Batman“-esque plot that this game has to provide.

Voice Acting

If you are looking to buy the Batman: Arkham Knight – Premium Editionfor Xbox One, one thing that you will be impressed by is the voice acting in this game. All of the actors have done a huge job in fulfilling their respective characters yet again, making the whole experience feel as authentic and realistic as possible.

Kevin Conroy yet again delivers a perfect ‘Batsy’ performance while Mark Hamill returns to another role as Batman’s number one nemesis. There is no denying the effort put into it by other actors as well. These include AshleyGreene as BarbaraGordon, TroyBaker as HarveyDent, Two-Face, Jason Todd, Red Hood and also the Arkham Knight, Grey DeLisle as Cat-Woman and much more.

The Sound Design

The overall sound design of the game is also satisfactory, to say the least. Every punch landed feels like it has an impact. The bat mobile sounds as mechanical and industrial as ever, the crack of the zip line and whip of Batman’s cape are also oh-so-perfect. Batman games have always delivered on this front, and there is nothing more to say about this which has not been said already. The musical score in the background also fills the ambiance quite well.

The Gameplay

Fighting

Now onto the biggest part of the game which is the gameplay itself. The Arkham franchise is known for its free-flowing beat’em up combo based style, and boy does it make a return in this installment of the trilogy as well. Everything that you remember from the previous Batman games is here, and what’s more, they have upgraded it a tad more.

The thing is, every single aspect of the game has seen some major or minor tweaks. That is no different from the gameplay either. They have added in some new combos and finishers during the fighting. Some new animations have also been added into the game, and Batman himself feels more mobile and flexible than ever before.

Not only that, but the fighting has also added a new feature where in certain gameplay sequences, you can play with a sidekick (there is a total of 3 in the game: Robin, Night Hawk and The Cat-Woman) and combine with them to inflict a dual finishing blow to the opponent. You can also take direct control of these side characters for a short period as well. Although these sequences have a bit of a gimmicky feel to them, it is still new and appreciated overall.

Gadgets

The other main reasons why people are looking for a Batman: Arkham Knight Premium Edition Discount is because of the huge number of gadgets that this game has to offer. Part of the fun of the Batman games is having a massive arsenal of gadgets at your disposal, most of which you will end up not using. But having them all is still great.

You will get all of the familiar gadgets like the Batarangs, Batclaw and the ExplosiveGel along with new inclusions like the VoiceSynthesizer and the FreezeBlast. A lot of these gadgets are placed in areas where it is very easy not to see them. So be careful and find them all. They are the hell of a lot of fun to play around with. The Freeze Blast, in particular, is an extremely fun addition to the game.

Overall, the game has the following gadgets to play around with:

Batarangs

Batclaw

Smoke Pellets

Line Launcher

Explosive Gel

Freeze Blast

Remote Electrical Charge

Disruptor

Hacking Device

Voice Synthesizer

The game provides a weapon wheel for organizing all of the gadgets. You can also have hotkeys for them as well. As such, toggling between them is pretty easy.

The Open World

Once again, The Arkhamfranchise provides you with an open world GothamCity, the expanse of which is bigger than any previous game. As mentioned before, the whole city is evacuated. As such, the immersion factor drops down by a slight amount, and there is a little less motivation to beat up all of the thugs pestering about below.

Despite that, you will never run out of quests and missions to do as Batman. No matter what you do or where you are, there is always something you can do to spend time. Whether it is taking care of thugs set up by ThePenguin or dealing with Two–Face or finishing the puzzle courses established by the Riddler, you will never feel bored.

The main story line is about 12 hours on average. If one were to include the side quests as well, you would find an extra 15 hours or more from the game as well. The city is jam-packed with activities, and you will have a blast finishing them all.

Detective Mode

Detective mode also makes a return and adds more features to it, giving more depth to the whole thing. You can replay individual camera footage, use your gadgets to solve encryptions, pause certain frames of a video to get more hints and much more, all of which make you feel like a badass. Despite that though, the sections where you use this mode seem a little less in this game than previous ones.

The Bat-Mobile

Other huge reasons fans were looking for a Batman: Arkham Knight Premium Edition Coupon code from the very beginning is because of the inclusion of the bat mobile. After so many iterations of the game, fans are finally treated to playing the bat mobile, something which everyone of us has wanted to do for a long time.

However, things are not all perfect. While the concept is very fun and at times very exciting as well, it feels as though this feature stays its welcome far too long. In many cases, it feels like a chore to play through when the game essentially becomes ‘World of Tanks’. But despite that, there are other fun aspects to it like the Riddler puzzle courses. Not only that, but you can also call upon your bat mobile during combat to assist you with the fight.

It is an overall fun addition to the game, but at times, it feels like it has been overdone. That does not take away from the fun factor though and would be welcomed in future editions, if there is one, with more polish of course.

Pros

Ultimately, the game has a lot of positive aspects to it. These include:

Excellent cutting edge graphics

Crisp updated gameplay regarding brawls and fighting

Massive content which includes main missions as well as side quests

Huge open world filled with activities

A lot of Easter eggs for players to discover

Refined detective mode

Huge number of gadgets included

Cons

Some of the negative aspects of the game include:

Poor boss fights

Story could have been better

Bat mobile feels out of place at times

Villains were not as hard hitting as previous games

Overall

Overall Batman: Arkham Knight Premium Edition – The best game may not be what it sounds like. It is not the best game in the franchise, but it delivers on a lot as well. As far as a conclusion the trilogy is concerned, it serves it purpose with it solid quality. As a standalone, much is left to be desired. As far as a rating is concerned, this game is probably worthy of a 7/10 – worth a buy but only on consoles.